|
Prepared for the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
| |||||
|
To contact the Presidents Conference: [email protected] In-Depth Issues:
Israel Upgrades Anti-Terror Cooperation with Russia (AP-Guardian-UK)
Iraqi National Congress Fires
Official for Visiting Israel - Yoav Stern (Ha'aretz)
Iran Begins Military Exercises Near Iraq Border (AP/Jerusalem Post)
Israelis Pay Highest Taxes of Any Developed Country - Yossi Greenstein
(Maariv International)
Israel's Population - 6.8 Million - Moti Bassok (Ha'aretz)
Search |
News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
The U.S. lobbied Monday to toughen an International Atomic Energy Agency draft resolution on Iran's nuclear program, hoping to include a clear "trigger" that would send Iran's case to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions if the country fails to comply with IAEA demands by November. In Washington, a senior Bush administration official said the U.S. would prefer that the IAEA refer the issue to the Security Council this month, rather than wait until November. (New York Times) Harun Ilhan, a leader of a Turkish al-Qaeda cell responsible for truck bombings last November that left 61 people dead, warned in court Monday of more attacks if Turkey continues to support U.S. policies or maintains close ties with Israel. "Even if Osama dies, our jihad will continue," he told the court. Another defendant, Adnan Ersoz, testified that at a 2001 meeting with Abu Hafs al-Masri, a former top lieutenant of bin Laden, al-Masri said al-Qaeda was interested in carrying out an attack on an Israeli ship making a call in Turkey, or on the Incirlik air base used by the U.S. (AP/USA Today) Ten years ago this week, Yasser Arafat gained major civilian powers for the first time as part of the Oslo Peace Accords. Today with fewer and fewer people working in the private sector, one-third of the Palestinian public is dependent on a salary from a Palestinian Authority that is able to function only through the help of donor funds. Yet Arafat's increasingly troubled image on the international stage is making support to the Palestinians a more difficult sell to donors. "There has been a sharp decline in donations," said Dr. Mohammed Shtayyeh, director of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction in Ramallah. "Iraq has been hijacking the attention of other donors." (Christian Science Monitor) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
A suicide bomber blew up near an armored IDF jeep Tuesday at an agricultural crossing near the West Bank town of Kalkilya, injuring three soldiers. One of the soldiers was suffering from burns which could be life-threatening, rescue workers said. (Ha'aretz) Three Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades terrorists were killed in an Israel Air Force missile strike targeting a car in Jenin. The main target was Mahmoud Abu Halifa, deputy of Jenin Martyrs' Brigades commander Zakariya Zubeidi. The Shin Bet regarded Halifa as the group's real operations commander. (Ha'aretz) See also Shin Bet Smashes Hamas Terror Cell - Amos Harel The Shin Bet security service recently uncovered an eight-member Hamas terror cell operating near Ramallah that was responsible for two suicide bombings last September 9 - at the entrance to an army camp at Tzrifin, and at Jerusalem's Cafe Hillel - killing 16 people. The cell members include a number of eastern Jerusalem residents and Palestinians living in Israel, some illegally. Some 30 kilograms of explosives were also captured. The terror cell was in contact with Hamas headquarters in Damascus, headed by Khaled Mashal, which sent money. (Ha'aretz) The U.S. is reducing pressure on Israel to dismantle unauthorized outposts in order to facilitate the evacuation of settlements in Gaza and northern Samaria under the disengagement plan, a senior Israeli official said Saturday. According to Israeli officials, there is a growing understanding in the Bush administration that the emphasis now should be placed on planning and preparing for disengagement, and that dealing with the outposts now is a "sideshow" that would detract from the "main event." The official said that Israel will honor its commitment to the U.S. and dismantle the outposts, but "at the right time." (Jerusalem Post) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Palestinians have no doubt that Israel will get out of Gaza, and that has created tremendous pressures on them. With the Israelis out, Palestinians know they must control themselves, must govern themselves, must institute a rule of law, must create accountability, must demonstrate they can be responsible. And none of that can happen so long as Yasser Arafat is allowed to resist all efforts at reform. Arafat remains an icon not easily surmounted, and his instinctive ability to maneuver and play different factions against each other will keep him on the scene. But the challenges indicate that his status has diminished and reformers are increasingly assertive and won't be easily deflected. In effect, they are filling the vacuum that Arafat has allowed to emerge. And with the decision to hold municipal elections, reformers and the younger generation of Palestinian activists seek to build their own legitimacy separate from Arafat's. The writer is director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. (Baltimore Sun) The Palestinians, just like the Somalis, have proven that state building is not a universal talent. We see in the Palestinian enterprise a fragmented society under the rule of thugs and local warlords, united only by entrenched hatred toward the Jews and by an ingrained penchant for violence. While self-determination is held by many to be a basic right, it is not self-evident that every ethnic group has the political maturity to exercise it. Indeed, the international community increasingly views the Palestinians as unable to govern themselves successfully. The bitter truth is that the two-state concept is not suitable for stabilizing the situation. The writer is director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. (Jerusalem Post) The Russians call them the Vakhabity - the Wahhabis - using the name for adherents of Saudi Islam to describe religious militants in their Muslim republics. They began appearing as early as 1987, before the Soviet Union broke up, according to Alex Alexiev, a terrorism specialist at the Center for Security Policy. As part of a global effort to spread Saudi-style fundamentalism, Saudi foundations supplied money and missionaries for mosques and schools in Soviet Muslim republics. Throughout the 1980s, Saudi aid had focused on Afghanistan, where bin Laden and others helped finance "holy warriors" fighting Soviet troops. With the war's end, jihadists turned to other conflicts where they saw Muslims under siege, notably in Kashmir, Bosnia, and, with the Russian invasion in 1994, Chechnya. Tens of millions of dollars poured into the impoverished region - money that went not merely for mosques but also for munitions. Among the key funders, investigators say: the Riyadh-based al Haramain Foundation, through its offices in nearby Azerbaijan and Dagestan as well as in the U.S. (U.S. News) See also Russia's Gathering Storm - Stephen Schwartz The main culprits in Beslan were Islamic extremists. Since at least 1999, these violent fanatics, with backing from the Wahhabi sect of Saudi Arabia and financial support from radicals throughout the global Muslim community, have assiduously agitated to take over the Chechen national movement. The participation of "Arabs" - meaning Saudis and other Wahhabi-influenced Muslim foreigners - is a constant in reportage and comment on Beslan and earlier terrorist incidents in Chechnya, as well as in neighboring Ingushetia, in Georgia, and in Russia itself. In mosques across the globe, from New York to Nairobi, Wahhabi extremists collect money and recruits for combat in Chechnya, which at times overshadows Iraq as a symbol of so-called martyrdom. (Weekly Standard-FrontPageMagazine) Observations: The Revenge of the Anti-Cabal - Saul Singer (Jerusalem Post)
To subscribe to the Daily Alert, send a blank email message to: [email protected] To unsubscribe, send a blank email message to: [email protected] |
||||